Sully - Untitled

Sully - Untitled
With ten years and a ton of releases behind him, the British producer Sully is a child of the hardcore continuum. That tendency is probably what linked him to Bastakiya Tapes—the first three vinyl releases on the Bedouin Records sub-label all featured breakbeats of some kind. "Untitled 01" is a hard stepper of dirty dancehall fuzz. Distortion touches every element, from the percussion hits to the squelchy bass and siren bleeps, ripples and blares. There's even a background drone that sounds like you haven't quite fully tuned into the right radio frequency, a fun sonic hallucination in the midst of a full-on get-down.

The B-side, "Stripes On A Tiger Don't Wash Away," is meatier. It builds from a piercing, almost melancholy melody to a hardcore rave banger with plenty of bells and whistles, including a "Mentasm" hoover. With a mood between euphoria and introspection, that central melody is a thread that evolves throughout the track. These two tunes make an energetic and substantial package.

More on Sully

Sully aka Jack Stevens is an understated folk hero, a low key elusive bass producer with a fiercely passionate fanbase. Long before – four of five years before – the UK garage revival kicked in and “future” garage had even been dreamt up, Sully began finding a space between 2step’s swing, dubstep’s edge and breakstep’s drums, all underpinned by the rude spirit of jungle. He displayed a deft touch for heart-breaking melodies that could touch people as much as the ruff sub bass could hit them, on EPs like ‘Phonebox’ and ‘Jackman’s Rec.’
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